The Glass Menagerie Key Scene

"a pale blue pillow"

Laura is feeling sick with anxiety because her high school sweetheart, Jim is round for dinner. The use of the colour pale blue suggests saddness and weakness. This emphasises Laura's crippling anxiety due to everyday things. Shows the importance of scene 7 as it reflects previous ideas, such as Laura's anxiety.

"He swings her into motion"

Laura and Jim are dancing, later on in scene 7. The use of reversal shows how when in the right circumstances (such as when Jim is around), Laura can fit in and interact with others. Scene 7 is important because it is the climax to the play as everything has been building up to Laura and Jim meeting; and when they are dancing emphasises her happiness when this happens.

"she covers her face and turns away."

Exposition of the play when Tom breaks Laura's glass animals. The use of gesture emphasises how just as glass is fragile and easily brokenso too is Laura's mental state fragile and easily broken. this idea is further developed in scene 7, showing its importance.

"Now its just like all the other horses."

Jim breaks Laura's glass unicorn in scene 7. This creates pathos towords Laura because just as Jim has broken the glass unicorn so it now looks like the horses it sits on the shelf with, so too is Jim affecting laura in such a way that she feels like she fits in with those/society around her. This shows the importance of scene 7 as it develops the symbol of the glass menagerie, and in turn helps develop our understanding of the character oLaura.

"Tom speaks from the fire-secape landing."

Before scene 7, the fire escape represents Tom's will for escape. Laura has just told her family that she has dropped out of bussiness college. Tom standing here whilst saying his asideshows how Tom feels seperate from Amanda and Laura and how prominate Tom's dreams are to join the navy. Represents Tom's dreams of running away and shows the scenes importance as this idea is further developed in scene 7.

"He plunges out on the fire-escape."

At the end of the play when Tom finally finds the courage to leave the household and join the navy. The use gesture shows how desperate Tom is to leave and when he does so wants to do so as soon as possible. Shows the importance of scene 7 as it develops previous ideas, such as the fire escape; which then shows how this scene is the deoument of the play as Toms greams of leaving his mother and sister have been met from previous scenes in the play.

"a delicate lemony light"

Amanda and Laura are discussing what having a gentleman caller could mean for the families future. Here the staging suggests sunlight, brightness and hope, therefore creating a hopeful atmosphere. this shows that Amanda and Laura are feeling posative about how Jims visit will go and what it may mean for the family. This idea is further developed in scene 7, showing the scenes importance.

"She blows out the candles."

At the end of the play, during the falling action, when Tom is saying his leaving speach. The use of gesture in the stage directions shows how just as the candels have gone out, so too has Laura and Amanda's hope for a better life due to Jim gone.This develops the idea that the lighting repredents the hope/lack of hope the characters have. This highlights scene 7's importance as it adds a further meaning to the lighting.

"the screen is lightened with the image of blue roses."

In the exposition of the play when Laura is telling her family about her high school sweetheart Jim. This foreshadows the events of later scenes as it hints at how Jim is actually Laura's gentleman caller. Shows the importance of scene 7 as it is in this scene that Jim appears as Laura's gentleman caller.

" Blue Roses! My gosh, yes-blue roses!"

Jim finally realises who Laura is and how he knows her. Here the plot reached its climax as Jim and Laura meet again for the first time since high school and so begin to talk. Shows scene 7's importance as the whole play has been leading up to this point aas its the turning point beacause everything has finally changed for Laura.

"the dark tenement wall slowly becomes transparent and reveals thr iterior of the ground floor Wingfeild flat."

At the very start of the play, the fourth wall is raised. Here the staging helps create the idea that the audiance are looking into the Wingfeild's life and echoes Tom's feelings of being tapped and boxed in in his boring, ordinary lifestyle. This idea is developed in scene 7, showing its importance.

"We see as though through soundproof glass,"

At the end of the play when Tom is saying his final aside. The staging showing the fourth wall coming down brings the play to an end by preventing the audiance looking in on the families life. It represnts how Tom has left his family and joined the navy by sperating him from the other characters and taking him out the box he was once trapped in. This shows the scenes importance by highlighting the change that tom experiances in this scene.